Chicago Bulls select Noa Essengue - #12 overall

[Jeffster81]

This is a good pick but the wrong team made the pick. I am in the group that do not trust the Bulls to properly develop this young man.

With that said, I hope it works out.

[Ice Man]

Seems like a good pick. He checks all the boxes but shooting, which is a very big box, but he's young and there aren't perfect candidates in the #12 slot. I like.

As for this franchise vs. that franchise is better at development, I doubt that. There's no real evidence -- just anecdotes to suit the narrative. Thus, the Bulls failed with Lauri because his game jumped forward in Year 6, at age 25, with another organization. Meanwhile, Tyler Herro's game jumped forward in Year 6, at age 25, with the same organization, coach, and GM. People don't mention Tyler Herro's case (or other similar examples) when claiming that Lauri's development MUST be because he went to a different team.

The same logic also applies to Jimmy Butler suddenly getting better in Year 6, at age 25. Same organization, same GM, same coach. If the Bulls had traded Jimmy after Year 3, he would have made a similar advance and then the story would be about how the Bulls didn't develop him properly. People would be absolutely, positively convinced that was the case; I could never persuade them otherwise. They would have been wrong.

We'll see how good Noa becomes. Whatever his ultimate level, that's on him.

[DASMACKDOWN]

At least Marc didnt deflect any answers. Other than the coaching extension thing, I thought he was fine.

AKME drives people crazy with his non answers. And while Marc has basically been a ghost the past year, this interview was fine.

[Red Larrivee]

Seems like a good pick. He checks all the boxes but shooting, which is a very big box, but he's young and there aren't perfect candidates in the #12 slot. I like.

As for this franchise vs. that franchise is better at development, I doubt that. There's no real evidence -- just anecdotes to suit the narrative. Thus, the Bulls failed with Lauri because his game jumped forward in Year 6, at age 25, with another organization. Meanwhile, Tyler Herro's game jumped forward in Year 6, at age 25, with the same organization, coach, and GM. People don't mention Tyler Herro's case (or other similar examples) when claiming that Lauri's development MUST be because he went to a different team.

The same logic also applies to Jimmy Butler suddenly getting better in Year 6, at age 25. Same organization, same GM, same coach. If the Bulls had traded Jimmy after Year 3, he would have made a similar advance and then the story would be about how the Bulls didn't develop him properly. People would be absolutely, positively convinced that was the case; I could never persuade them otherwise. They would have been wrong.

We'll see how good Noa becomes. Whatever his ultimate level, that's on him.

It's not just about player development; it's about player development with developmental picks. Players like Lauri Markkanen and Tyler Herro come into the league already being refined at certain skills. Of the picks AK has hit with, Buzelis and Ayo already came in with identity to their game.

Essengue is a very unique player. There's not really a specific player comp that you can dial in on with him. The comps have been all over the place. He shows flashes doing a bunch of different things, but he's not refined in any of those things either. I think that's what makes him both exciting and risky: He can literally become anything.

I do think that certain teams are better at developing players, especially these types of players. In the last 25 years, the Bulls have never been that team to get the most out of developmental picks. Their best luck is with players coming in a little bit more seasoned.

So, hopefully they can build a proper plan to develop him. This could take a while to really see any profit.

[Chi town]

I’m certainly happy with this pick.

I’m curious to see what a 4/5 Buzelis/Noa pairing looks like in a couple of years when they both hit their maturity weight. Clearly they would have trouble with large C’s but the benefits overall of having two athletic switchable bigs might cause some serious headaches.

They will run large bigs off the floor and their ability to front and switch on D will count act the size

[Chi town]

Seems like a good pick. He checks all the boxes but shooting, which is a very big box, but he's young and there aren't perfect candidates in the #12 slot. I like.

As for this franchise vs. that franchise is better at development, I doubt that. There's no real evidence -- just anecdotes to suit the narrative. Thus, the Bulls failed with Lauri because his game jumped forward in Year 6, at age 25, with another organization. Meanwhile, Tyler Herro's game jumped forward in Year 6, at age 25, with the same organization, coach, and GM. People don't mention Tyler Herro's case (or other similar examples) when claiming that Lauri's development MUST be because he went to a different team.

The same logic also applies to Jimmy Butler suddenly getting better in Year 6, at age 25. Same organization, same GM, same coach. If the Bulls had traded Jimmy after Year 3, he would have made a similar advance and then the story would be about how the Bulls didn't develop him properly. People would be absolutely, positively convinced that was the case; I could never persuade them otherwise. They would have been wrong.

We'll see how good Noa becomes. Whatever his ultimate level, that's on him.

It's not just about player development; it's about player development with developmental picks. Players like Lauri Markkanen and Tyler Herro come into the league already being refined at certain skills. Of the picks AK has hit with, Buzelis and Ayo already came in with identity to their game.

Essengue is a very unique player. There's not really a specific player comp that you can dial in on with him. The comps have been all over the place. He shows flashes doing a bunch of different things, but he's not refined in any of those things either. I think that's what makes him both exciting and risky: He can literally become anything.

I do think that certain teams are better at developing players, especially these types of players. In the last 25 years, the Bulls have never been that team to get the most out of developmental picks. Their best luck is with players coming in a little bit more seasoned.

So, hopefully they can build a proper plan to develop him. This could take a while to really see any profit.

I’m Lauri’s case id say it was bulking up and use that hurt him. Jazz using him in constant motion as a wing.

[DASMACKDOWN]

I’m certainly happy with this pick.

I’m curious to see what a 4/5 Buzelis/Noa pairing looks like in a couple of years when they both hit their maturity weight. Clearly they would have trouble with large C’s but the benefits overall of having two athletic switchable bigs might cause some serious headaches.

They will run large bigs off the floor and their ability to front and switch on D will count act the size

I think the modern 4/5 are interchangeable.

Who is the PF in the Boston starting lineup. It doesn't matter. That could be Brown or Tatum. Its seemless.

Paulo and Franz same.

I think Noa and Matas has the potential to be the same.

[chitowndish]

I'm good with the pick I think the athletic numbers look good he's doing better than guards with speed and agility at 6' 10" and then the way he moves he is well coordinated for his size. Definitely seems switchable and has great potential as a defender but it does seem like he has to develop a bit at understanding team defense but his athleticism and arms should help him a lot. His handle isn't great but it doesn't look hopeless and I'd say the same about his shooting he isn't a great shooter but I don't see anything mechanically wrong in his shot that would prevent him from becoming decent. Guy is incredibly young and only playing since 12 too so it's not surprising he hasn't put these skills together yet and there is good reason to think he can improve on this over time just because of learning trajectory as it sounds like he's only been playing ball for 6 years. It isn't like his development has stalled in these areas it's more like he hasn't had enough time to really put things together yet.

Seems to be able to attack well facing the basket, he isn't going to be creating a lot of shots for himself but we actually have good PG play on the team now so he should be a effective lob target. I'd also say the good PG play may be as important to develop him as he needs someone that knows how to feed him the ball and we have those guys now, coaching is important but I think having pretty crappy PG play for a lot of recent years plays into project guys not developing as well and I think that has changed. I like the gamble here.

[RSP83]

Watch on YouTube

At least he's shown he can do this vs. an actual NBA team. And this is last year when he was still 17.

I agree that he looks like a guy who's 6'10" with 7 foot wing span who just picks up basketball. But for that kind of player he seems to know how to make himself useful. Maybe we finally get the Chris Boucher that was popular among this board members.

[sco]

Yeah, I came away happy that we didn't draft Demin/CMB/Queen...especially glad we didn't trade up to do that. I was surprised we didn't draft KJ, although I wasn't as high on him as others. Essengue is young but he already seems to be a very good cutter/finisher which I feel we were missing. He also seems to be a very good player in transition, which is where we want to be. The shot consistency isn't there, but I think his form needs less work than Matas' did coming in. Looks like a good PF candidate. I'm not going to get too excited one way or the other until he gets decent minutes during the season. He might benefit by getting some burn early on in the g-league.

[MGB8]

Watch on YouTube

At least he's shown he can do this vs. an actual NBA team. And this is last year when he was still 17.

I agree that he looks like a guy who's 6'10" with 7 foot wing span who just picks up basketball. But for that kind of player he seems to know how to make himself useful. Maybe we finally get the Chris Boucher that was popular among this board members.

The one problem with this vid is that it’s from an exhibition game. We’ve had plenty of no name teams and no name players put up big stats against NBA teams in those pre season intra-league exhibitions. Little defense, which makes the opposing offense look much better than otherwise. Film from Essengue in international competition is more important (even Olympics if he was in).

Ben Simmons can drop 3s at 50% in exhibition.

[BigUps]

The development concerns from the franchise are legit. I’d say they are even more legitimate now that AKME decided to part ways with Peter Patton.

From a player development standpoint, we were decent at making everyone a better shooter. That was Patton’s work. He’s gone now. Noa could have really used him because his FT% is good which likely means his shot needs a very minor tweak and I would’ve trusted Patton to diagnose/fix that. It’s still baffling why AKME made the decision to part ways with him.

With all of that said, it’s another draft year of folks overly concerned about combine measurables. Reading way too many comments worried about the kids length and athleticism numbers. While those are fun quantitative numbers to debate, they don’t take into consideration a players heart or passion.

Most reports talk about Noa as a high energy player with a ton of desire. Those characteristics are what will define him as a player more than his standing reach, height with shoes, etc. The mindset he has is what will decide if he develops to his ceiling or his floor. By all reports, he has this in spades. That’s incredibly important and what gives me a lot of hope that he reaches his potential.

Like TJ McConnell said in the finals, “effort is a skill” and Noa seems to have that same fire at the age of 18. That’s a really good thing.

[Guru]

Watch on YouTube

Oh man this team is stuck.

It really wasn't all that bad. The part where he said they don't wanna skip any steps, might be a subtle admission that he's learning from the past.

What is alarming though is that they have not replaced Patton. And this kid badly needs shot development. Don't know if that's AKME being lazy, or cheap ownership

It wasn't bad at all. And there were tweets that he said he would stash or trade the second rounder. He didn't really say that. He said he was open to everything.

[Red8911]

I don’t think anyone can really have an opinion on Noa. 18 yrs old and played in Germany. Only time will tell if AK is a genius for picking him or he could very well also be a bust.

[ChettheJet]

You experts that didn't scout him in Germany should probably shut up. You ain't the know-it-alls you think.

He's no doubt a project, will start the season on the bench then go back and forth tot the G League to learn about American basketball. That formula is perfect for the roster the Bulls have at this time. Hopefully he learns the NBA game to contribute in year TWO. All those freshmen that they could have taken aren't good enough to leapfrog over the veterans on the roster. Realistically none of them would look more NBA ready than Dalen Terry or have the smarts to push Carter farther down the bench.

If Noa is indeed athletic,at least you don't have to teach him that. We'll see if he can rebound against men, can handle the ball, knows where to be when plays are called and play defense without fouling every trip.

[Almost Retired]

I imagine with how thin and young he is that he might add another inch or two in height and 20-40 lbs over the next 5 years.

Very true. I don't know how you were at 18 but I could eat 5,000 calories a day and never gained much weight. I was too active. And I was nowhere near being a professional athlete. By his early 20s he'll get up to at least 220-225. As long as it's functional strength he'll be fine. He's a big wing. He doesn't have to bulk up to 250 pounds. The pairing with Matas is going to be interesting. As both guys mature and get stronger they are going to pose a big problem defensively.

[drosestruts]

Do any of oyu even know what Peter Patton did (or didn't do) or do you just know his name and hate the Bulls so decide to bash them for moving on from Patton?

His impact on players shooting seems very anecdotal. Some players shot better one year than worse the next (Ayo). Some shot worse than better (Vuc). Others stayed largely the same.

If Patton is so great - how come no other team has hired him since he left the Bulls? Is everyone else also stupid?

We have a developmental coaching staff - you (and I) just don't know their names. It doesn't mean they're not good or capable of their jobs. It actually means nothing.

Can the Bulls develop Essengue into a good player? I think that has more to do with Essengue than it does the Bulls. And I think that's true for every team.

[TheSuzerain]

He's a fine pick. Bit there is bust risk and even the upside case is a bit unclear.

Queen probably the only guy drafted after him that you could argue is a downright better prospect (and Queen himself has a couple question marks).
I

[ghostinthepost1]

Swish Theory has a great long write up on him with clips -> https://theswishtheory.com/scouting-report/nba-draft/2025-nba-draft/

I'll quote my favorite parts below

If I was a Noa truther, I would boil his case down to 3 components: production, age, and tools. I’d argue that there’s nothing more useful in prospect evaluation than these components. After all, precocious production has been the most indicative star upside proxy that we’ve ever seen, and the false positives nearly always offer some combination of poor feel and awful athletic tools.

Few come close to Noa’s precocious production in the FIBA U18 European championships. Amongst players under the age of 17, Noa’s net rating ranked 1st and his PER ranked 3rd. The 5 players around him – Ricky Rubio, Furkan Korkmaz, Enes Freedom, Dragan Bender and Alex Len – were all NBAers.

Across two years, he put up the following stat line: 62% true shooting, 11% offensive rebounding rate, 23% defensive rebounding rate, 15% assist rate, 10% turnover rate, 3.1% steal rate, 2.4% block rate, 27% usage rate.

This is important because it shows what Noa could potentially do with higher usage. Noa hit 33.5 PER + 40.1 NET, but it’s especially notable how strong his rebound-assist-stock integration was. On a relatively large usage, Noa was a reasonably good passer and strongly avoided TOs. He was highly efficient, and still was able to put up a monster 3.1% steal rate. This is as close to ideal as you could expect for a high-usage scorer, and it was across a solid 14-game sample size in a high-level competition.

Noa has continued his production in the German BBL league, producing for one of the best EuroCup teams this year. 18.5 PER and 62% TS is quite good, but it’s his combination of monster free throw rate (0.7) and turnover avoidance (1.1 A:TO + 11% TO) that has many claiming star upside. Noa’s 70% rim finishing and 70 FTR indicate strong applied use of tools, but it should be noted how good his tools really are. Standing 6’11 barefoot with a 35-inch max vert and 10.6 lane agility, Noa is long, agile, and can jump with the best of them.

So to be clear, Noa is probably the best athlete over 6’10 amongst serious prospects. In a 14-game sample vs U18 comp, he put up one of the best PER and net ratings that we’ve seen through efficient scoring, TO avoidance, and great stocks. He also happens to not turn 18 until December. What’s not to love about this intersection of age, production, tools, and feel?

Now, for a question I’m sure we’ve all thought of (or maybe it’s just me): could this guy actually be Giannis?

For the optimist: one trait that underlied Giannis’s athleticism for size was his massive Achilles length. Giannis has a 13 inch long Achilles tendon, which is double the length of the average male. This length manifests in greater activation of explosive movement and acceleration.

While I doubt there is an official “Achilles tendon length” listing for Noa, it is clear on a singular watch of Noa that he has very long legs, and much of that length is centralized in the Achilles region. While it’s unclear whether he has quite as long Achilles tendons as Giannis, Noa’s open court acceleration and immense vert may be an indication that it’s close.

For the pessimist: Noa has a 7 foot WS. Giannis has a 7’4 WS. Enough said. Noa is similarly skinny to pre-draft Giannis, but that implies Noa would also have to match Giannis’ generational physical development, as he gained 50 pounds from pre-draft to his current listing. I guess it’s not completely out of the range of possibilities, but I don’t think Noa is ever reaching Giannis’ finishing or defensive goodness with mediocre length for size.

I struggle to rate Noa. He could very well be a modern tweener, with a lack of projectable skill in the HC, mediocre stock, and good height but lack of weight and length. But I do think the absolute dominance of Cooper Flagg has desensitized us from the absurdity of Noa’s production relative to age. And if his U18 Euro sample was any indication, Noa has a ceiling as an efficient creator with high feel on both ends. Strong precocious production with feel and elite athletic tools is theoretically a recipe for stardom. It’s unfair to call Noa a total mystery box, but it’s hard for me to project what he’ll be in the league. He’s definitely an NBA-caliber player, but he is one of the highest variance NBA prospects in recent memory.

I'll also add that while his shooting isn't great now, he isn't shy about taking them, and with a decent free throw %, I think there are some promising signs with his ability to hit catch and shoot 3s at a decent clip as he matures.

[waffle]

I like almost everything about this pick, but all picks are about development

The obvious 2 with Noa are strength and shooting. Both of which are DEVELOPMENTAL, and being as young as he is he has a lot of time to develop

He already has a lot of things PW will never have and which make him a non competitive basketball player